Congress and the Nation Vol. VII 1985-1988

This weekend I discovered another area of crafting that I think I will really enjoy; altering books.

A few months ago I ran across this video tutorial. I loved the thought of turning an old book into a purse and knew that one day I would try it.

Last week while Emma and I where at the Ames Public Library, I found a huge, hardcover text book on the free shelf.

Actually, I found four, but figured I should only take one. I didn't need to add more junk then I could handle to my already ridiculous stash. Although, I am kicking myself now because...

Today ended up being the day.

I started this project at about 3:00 this afternoon (Sunday 25Apr10). I didn't expect to finish it today, but I wanted to at least get it started. I hadn't made anything for the last few days and I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms.

To my great surprise, this project turned out to be pretty easy. The hardest part was trying to decide if I wanted to cover the entire book with fabric, or if I wanted to leave the outside the actual book. The second hardest part was picking the fabric.

I knew I wanted to use the serpentine belt that Jared had saved for me as the handles. (I know, what a great husband to think of me as he is fixing his Jeep!). After washing the belt and drilling some holes it it, I was ready to make the rest.

I followed the tutorial, for the most part. If you have read some of my other posts, you might remember that I am not so good at following directions. He (they guy in the video) uses glue for a lot of the heavy stuff, I decided to sew everything together, then glue it into the book.


I even added 2 pockets!

I also learned a very valuable lesson. When sewing pockets into a bag, don't sew them flat. Make sure there will be room to open up the pocket so you can put more then a credit card in there.

(Yeah, my pockets are good sized, but they don't really open so they really can only hold very thin items...)

Even with the pocket mistake, I love how the bag came out. If Emma and I venture into Ames tomorrow, I will be stopping at the library to see if the other three books are still there...